JPM Now Taking Delivery of Its Own Silver Short Contracts

There’s a great new article over at Seeking Alpha reporting that the COMEX has rushed approval for JP Morgan to open their own licensed vault for storing and taking delivery of silver and other precious metals contracts.

This means that JP Morgan can now potentially deliver short obligations to itself. Most silver that is ‘delivered’ never actually leaves the COMEX vault, which used to be HSBC, Brinks, or others that JP Morgan was delivering to. Now they have their own vault to deliver their (allegedly-owned) silver. Even if contract buyers decide to move their silver from JP Morgan’s vault, the process and paperwork takes days, allowing JPM more time to stall delivery and scrounge up scarce silver.

The article poses some serious questions that need answering:

Why was JPM awarded a vault license almost overnight, avoiding the lengthy vetting process others must undergo? Why did it happen in the middle of a major COMEX silver delivery month, during a massive worldwide silver short squeeze, at a time when physical silver is in severe shortage? We do not know the answers to these questions.